Style Spy

This Hurts...

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:48:00 +0000

...my feelings, my head, my soul -- my entire existence is pained by this.

It's made of NFL football jerseys. Used ones. Oooooh, good googly-moogly. I have to go lie down now.

Go here for the story. I can't talk about it anymore.

The Backup

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Reader Sara alerted me to the fact that the link in last week's post for the Free People Ruffled Jacket wasnt working, so I checked it out. Turns out Piperlime was sold out of them. (I hope it was my readers who got 'em all!) So I did a little research and found a couple more places where you can get it, if you fell hard for this jacket like I did. Click on the photos for links.

It's still available in black in a couple of places.

(This is black, it's just a bad photo.)

But, interestingly, I also found it in a lovely deep red color

and, even prettier, winter white:

Oh, I love that.

Then I decided to post a few more jackets, just because there are so many great ones out there. All of these strike me as the sort of thing you might like if you like the ruffled one above. Tell me what you think.

This is Dolce & Gabbana. It's fairly spendy, but it is on sale.

This is Givenchy.

It is not on sale. Still -- very cool denim jacket.

This is wonderful:

LOVE! Twill jacket with taffeta collar!! Also -- great price!!

This is from Love Moschino, which is a line the company has launched that's supposed to be more affordable. And the prices do look a little more in line with what I think of as reasonable. (The name "Cheap & Chic" has always pissed me off a bit.) This jacket is available in black, but I love this fuchsia. Delicious little thing.

Also Love Moschino. Another fantastic jacket -- it's a heavy knit. You should click on this link so you can look at the detailing and the back, it's really wonderful.

No ruffles on this one, but it has that quasi-military quality that I like so much. I think this is a great way to do this military trend and still get a jacket that you're going to be able to wear for several seasons -- it's not so extreme that you won't be able to pull it back out next spring without feeling embarrassed about it.

It's the sleeves here, of course. I adore this -- so soft and feminine and yet still with a great shape. I would live in this jacket.

Perfect with a pencil skirt and pumps.

Miu Miu. Very wonderful.

Jil Sander. This makes me a little dizzy...

YSL. This makes me VERY dizzy.

I could easily have spent another hour looking at jackets online, but I had to get to bed. Here's hoping something in this lineup tickles your fancy. Tell me which ones you like best!

Getcha Some Boots!!!

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:45:00 +0000

Today is Piperlime's 3d birthday, and they're running a special!!

Order today and celebrate Piperlime's 3rd Birthday and get a $25 gift certificate towards your next purchase! Shop now while supplies last! Ends 10/25/09 until 11:59 PM PT.

(And remember -- they do free shipping on orders over $50!)

So you could get some boots! (Click photos for links!)

You could get comfy-but-stylish boots:

(Aerosoles!)

You could get waterproof-yet-sexy boots:

(Sperry! I LOVE these!)

A beautiful-yet-budget-friendly boot with a not-too-high-heel:

If you're thinking you want to play with the over-the-knee trend without spending a fortune:

If you want a classic boot but your calves require a little extra room:

(Naturalizer, with wide shaft. Also available in black.)

So, go!!! Shop!!!!!

It's Never Too Early...

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

...to start thinking about your holiday party wardrobe!

Mostly I say this because I found this dress and I think we should ALL have one, because it's so gorgeous:

Isn't that lovely? It's by Yoanna Baraschi and you can find it at chickdowntown.com. (I couldn't find a specific link for the dress, but I promise it's there!)

Seriously, I think this is a nearly perfect party dress.

Look how easy that is -- elastic waistband, so you can eat lots of hors d'oeuvres and drink plenty of festive sparkly beverages. This is an LBD Plus -- a beautiful black dress with a gorgeous floral print that will make it stand out brilliantly in the sea of other dull LBDs at the party. (And you know there will be one -- let's start making book on the percentage of women in black at any given party you go to between Thanksgiving and New Year's. I'll bet it's a good 70%, especially in This Economy.)

This dress is not especially trendy or season-specific -- you could really wear this year-round and for several years to come. And would you just LOOK at this beautiful print!!

::sigh:: I'm so in love with this. And the great thing is how much fun it would be to accessorize. Afraid you'll be chilly in sleeveless? Top it off with a gorgeous jacket, there are lots out there.

(Click on photos for links!)

Ruby velvet from D&G that could do double-duty at the office, or even on the weekend with a pair of sharp jeans and some boots -- you'll wear this to shreds, I promise.

How about satin? So festive.

Oof, that's beautiful. Silk organza. That color is so unusual and pretty and this is oh-so-on-sale.

But it doesn't have to be color, black would work beautifully, too. The look this season is sequins, sequins everywhere. But I think a full-on sequined jacket would be too much with the print, so maybe just a touch on the lapels:

How about classic, wear-for-a-million years black velvet?

(From Banana Republic, so incredibly reasonable.)

This one made me gasp a little:

Ooooooh, my goodness. If you don't love that, you have no heart. (Also, not crazy expensive.)

If you are going to wear a black jacket, at least pleaseI'mbeggingyou wear a brightly-colored shoe.

These are adorable and they are a STEAL.

The shape on these is classic sex-kitten, and the price is great for a good pair of drop-dead party shoes that will never go out of style.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!! Sparkly!!!!!!! Style Spy loves her some sparkly! These are Nine West so they're also super-reasonable (and they come in some other fun colors).

Plan on doing some dancing at your holiday party?

How about these great gold wedges with a t-strap? Nice and stable, and they'll stay on your feet while you do the Charleston. (Or the merengue. Or the Hustle.) Plus -- on sale!

Every woman needs a dress like this in her wardrobe. I don't necessarily mean this dress specifically, but a dress that can be worn different ways in different seasons for a good many years to come. Most of us do have them and mostly they're LBDs. And that's great -- une petite robe noir has gotten all of us all through a sticky fashion situation at one time or another. But isn't it time to branch out a little? My personal challenge for everyone is to try to resist the impulse to buy one more black dress -- next time you're shopping for something special, see if you can't score a color or a pattern that lights you up and makes you smile. It takes a little more work -- the world is filled with black dresses and yes, some of them are truly great -- but it's worth it to not disappear into the crowd. Let's make this as bright and colorful a holiday season as we can this year -- it's been a rough one and we deserve some cheer.

Pretty For Friday -- October 23

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:32:00 +0000

Well, my version of pretty, anyway...

I'm just in love with these pants and have been for ages.

(click on all photos for links, as usual)

Slouchy deliciousness from Ann Demeulemeester's Spring 09 collection. They're on sale at LUISAVIAROMA.COM, although still well out of my range. I've been on the lookout for something in this vein for a while, though, including checking out men's pajamas.

I want to wear them with a superfine wool or cashmere t-shirt, something like this

from Banana Republic, and then top it off with a nice looooooong slouchy cardi,

like this one. (This is Vince . I have really come to love the clothes in this line -- they're mostly basics, well-made and not boring.) I am so feeling this long slouchy thing right now, I'm not quite sure where it comes from except that it feels very French to me and I'm pining for Paris in the worst way.

I'd wear the whole look with my brilliant Donald J. Pliner Haiden brogues, which are in danger of being worn to ribbons this fall -- I keep pulling them out of the closet and they keep being perfect with everything; buying those was an impulsive stroke of genius if I do say so myself. They still have them in Plum at zappos.com and don't think I'm not mighty tempted by that knowledge, but if you think black might be more useful to you, you could do a lot worse than these little lovelies

which are also Pliner and have the same shape, heel, and overall feeling. Dayum. Those are sharp. (And yes, to answer the inescapable question, they are comfortable. Pliner makes excellent shoes -- I wore those brogues and furniture shopped with my mom all day Saturday.)

This weekend is probably going to find me wearing some variation on the outfit above, although I'll have to do some improvising where the pants are concerned. How about you guys? What are you pulling out of the closet this wekeend?

Time To Buy That Bedazzler

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:09:00 +0000

Because, seriously? These jeans?

Are ON SALE for over $5000. ($5437.00, to be precise.) And that price? Is 50% off.

Yes, they are super-cool. Yes, they are Balmain and apparently if you are a big-noise fashionista life is not worth living unless you have a closet full of Balmain these days. (I somehow seem to be soldiering along, but I'm strictly bush-league, I reckon.) And the work really is gorgeous. But come on.

It's starting to piss me off a bit, it really is. Honestly, I find the idea that there are $10K jeans out there, no matter how sparkly and fabulous, a wee bit insulting. (And I think we all know that expensive clothing as a general concept does not trouble me overmuch.) There's really no point in me being cheesed about it, I reckon, because it's not my money being spent and if someone wants to drop that much cash on pants who am I to judge? But it just seems like there's this whole tier of people in the fashion world who have absolutely no idea about what's going on in the rest of the world. Remember when a $500 shoe was absolutely out of this world expensive? I am routinely seeing shoes for twice that nowadays. Who is buying this stuff? All the news reports in the business are about how the stores are having to lower their inventories and put things on sale earlier, and yet what's coming into the stores continues to get more & more expensive. I don't get it.

Someone explain this to me. Please.

Is Greasy The New Black?

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:05:00 +0000

I'm wondering what it is about these ads that is supposed to make me want to buy the products...

I'll grant you -- Eva Mendes is a gorgeous woman with a ferocious body. But... yeccch. I would never call myself a clean freak (and neither would you if you saw my kitchen floor), but this is just gross. I am utterly turned off by the looks of this, and the thing that really, really drives me crazy is that I want to pull that hair off her face! Don't you know this poor girl stood there for god knows how long while a team of photo stylists massaged her head with Crisco and then one by one arranged those locks of hair on her face to give them juuuuuuuust the right air of spontaneous, tousled perfection. And then she had to stand there some more while they took the photos and you KNOW it had to drive her crazy, that she was DYING to just reach up and PUSH THAT HAIR OFF HER FACE!!!! See, that's all I can think about when I look at this ad -- I do not think, "Boy those are cute jeans." I do not think, "Hmmm, I wonder if my ass would look that good in those jeans." (Puh-leez...) I think, "God, someone get that hair off her face!!!!" To me, that is not effective advertising.

I also wonder, what goes through a young woman's mind when she agrees to do ads like this? Specifically, a young actress's mind. Models model, that's what they do. But, presumably Ms. Mendes is working toward a long career as an actress, presumably she would like to be respected for her work, presumably she would like to play the sorts of roles that are typically considered "Oscar bait." Appearing oiled up like a sardine and splayed more-than-half-naked in every American magazine not specifically marketed to children doesn't seem to me the straightest path to that goal.

But I'm probably wrong -- what do I know from Hollywood? Nudity and public displays of sexuality are so commonplace anymore that they probably don't work against someone in the way that they used to. And maybe Ms. Mendes harbors no such pretensions -- maybe she's just getting hers while she can and who can blame her? If I had that body, I might also be pretty tempted to paste it onto the largest billboard someone offered me, especially if they were tossing out the kind of cabbage I'm guessing you get from a mega-company like Calvin Klein. So who am I to judge?

I know that some people will interpret this photo as Ms Mendes undressing the guy, but I think she's just slipping off him and clutching his underwear in an attempt to stay put. Sorry, but I think it's a lost cause, Eva. Just give up and slide on down.

Images: Stylefrizz.com

Boots I Will Not Be Wearing

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:28:00 +0000

I was online doing some virtual shopping, looking for some boots I'm semi-obsessed with (about which more later.) I didn't find them, but I did find some doozies. I haven't done this for a while, so just for fun...

(You can click on the photos for links. If you do so, I'm assuming it is purely for research purposes!)

If a person ate too much whimsy and threw it up and then made boots out of it? This is what they'd get.

Doc Martens. With lace. How... "clever." Are you tempted by these? Ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you over 23 years old?
2. Do you have a job that is not in a record store?
3. Does anyone ever refer to you as "Mom"?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," it's time to put away the Docs. Re-live your anarchist youth in the privacy of your own home with your Sex Pistols albums if you'd like. But if you're not living in a squat, dump the Docs.

This is what happens when elves read Vogue.

From our old friends at Nascar:

I couldn't decide if the blue ones or the black ones were more eye-scathing, so I posted them both. (You're welcome!)

Sometimes Gwen Stefani surprises me. Sometimes she just upsets me.

These are from a brand called "Helle Comfort." I don't care how comfortable they are -- I don't care if they come boxed with a pair of angels to massage my feet -- yech, those are ugly boots.

Proof that just because it's expensive doesn't make it good. One thousand dollars worth of ugly from Proenza Schouler.

This is ugly mostly in its intention, which is to rip off the YSL cage booties that I've been in love with for a year now. These are certainly more affordable (under 100 bucks), but I can't do it. When I walked, tapping of the heels would say, "Fake! Fake! Fake!" with every step I took.

For those days when you just can't decide between ankle warmers & sandals.

Sometimes Naturalizer makes surprisingly cute shoes. This is not one of those times.

This was just a short survey, friends -- and this was just the ankle boots. If you, like me, are shopping around for more boots this fall -- be careful out there.

Fashionable Chickens, Modish Eggs

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Last week I wrote about what has become the Fashion Disaster That Ate Paris, a.k.a. the Emanuel Ungaro Spring 2010 show. It was Lindsey Lohan's first go-round with the label as its "artistic advisor" and Estrella Archs's first outing as its designer and it has been widely and roundly panned by just about everyone on the planet who buys and wears clothes. (Everyone except Bloomingdales, remarkably, according to WWD.)

I said in my review that I'd checked out Archs's previous work on her website and found her to be promising. And it turns out that Ms. Archs presented her own namesake collection in Paris last week. When I had a look at Archs's most recent collection, some questions were answered, but a few new ones were posed.

The collection is almost entirely black and white, which I found interesting, given how much color there was in the Ungaro show and in Archs's previous collections. There are a few shots of gold and two pieces in navy, but otherwise -- completely black and white. This is interesting, and poses a chicken-or-egg kind of question. As far as I know, Archs was brought in to design Ungaro fairly late in the process (she only had about a month to pull this show together, with Lindsay's -- ahem -- "help"), and common sense tells us that her own show would probably have been well down the pipeline by that point and the color scheme would already have been decided upon. But it seems odd to me that a designer so at home with color would arbitrarily decide to eliminate all of it, and for that to coincidentally happen at the same time she suddenly became responsible for designing a house famous for its unrestrained use of color. Was Archs planning on the black & white looks for her own line from the get-go? Or did she make the decision to go all black and white as an attempt to separate her namesake line from the Ungaro one?

I found the clothes in this collection less promising than in the previous ones I'd seen. They didn't strike me as particularly thoughtful. And again this makes me ask: Was this the direction she was headed anyway, or is it the result of her split focus? We'll probably never know unless Archs herself decides to tell us and my guess is one glance down at the contract she signed with the PTB at Ungaro is going to dissuade her from that.

At least she didn't bother with the sparkly pasties.

although maybe she should have.

I just don't get clothes like this -- I don't understand why you'd show them. If you're John Galliano or Jean Paul Gaultier you can get away with throwing stuff down the runway you've no intention of producing, just as a way of getting across whatever point you're trying to make that season. But if you're a relatively unknown young designer stepping into the shoes of a giant (and those shoes are accompanied by a skinny blonde Hollywood albatross around your neck, to boot), I think it behooves you to not make clothes that are so easily dismissable as gimmickry and foolishness. To be fair, I love the look of that gauzy Fortuny-pleated fabric and the caryatid shape of that top, but come on! What is with that funky triangle? And, hello! See-through!!

But then I saw this dress

and this... outfit

such as it is, and I thought, "Hang on, is this swimwear?" Is that white dress actually a swimsuit and a cover-up? And the black... number is maybe a bikini and a very glam mangotinis-by-the-pool ensemble? Maybe. But I don't know.

See, this strikes me as a serious design flaw: if I cannot tell if your clothing is for the beach or for a cocktail party, you are doing something wrong.

This drives me crazy.

The idea that you would take the time and trouble to cut and construct a dress with all those different pieces of fabric going different directions -- which is a fantastic opportunity to use your construction to create something that's going to flatter almost every shape -- the fact that you do this and it STILL makes this 102-pound model look as boxy and shapeless as a Woodstock lesbian in her firewood-chopping clothes? That's disgraceful. Most of the wannabes on Project Runway could make this out of placemats and licorice whips in 8 hours and it would look better than this.

And this?

This is just sloppy and half-assed.

I like the idea of this although not the execution and AGAIN -- sloppy fit. I hate that sleeve.

This is almost working for me, but I'm having bit of trouble with the proportions.

I find that neckline cut in too far and too low -- it gives her linebacker shoulders and heaven help you if you have an actual bust and want to wear that.

This is not almost working.

That is just a mess. A big, shiny, crinkly mess. Archs needs to go back to year one of design school and re-take the class on sleeves. I have a major problem with her sleeves.

Remember the other day when I commented on the navy number from the Ungaro show and said it looked like it had been dropped in from another collection that had nothing to do with that one? I think I wasn't far from right:

Although, to be fair, I like this. I always love when someone uses navy or another color instead of black, and I am partial to that egg-shaped, cocoon-y jacket. What it has to do with that little swimsuit/negligée/whatever it is at the top, however, is anyone's guess.

Here I am just baffled:

I can't imagine it's easy to find an armless model, but I applaud Ms. Archs on her efforts to show diversity on the runway and... I'm sorry, what's that? She HAS arms? You just can't SEE them? Seriously?

Well, that's just dumb.

Final insult to injury:

Pole dancer shoes! GAHHHHHH, what is with the pole dancer shoes these days? My theory is that a fledgling designer doesn't have the time & money to spend on creating & constructing high-design shoes, so she goes with something she thinks will be neutral and hopefully not distract from the clothing. Maybe the reasoning is that these clear vinyl shoes will sort of disappear and not compete with the clothing design. Well, I'm here to tell all of you people who might be tempted to pull this trick: they DON'T disappear, they DO distract, and what's more, they are hurting my feelings!!! Stop it!!

Sadly, I'm actually less hopeful for Ungaro and for Estrella Archs on her own having seen this collection. I fear she is not a strong enough designer at this point in her career to take on the challenge of re-working a very well-known label without letting it interfere with and hinder her own line. It cannot be easy to try to do both things at once -- it takes a designer with an extremely well-developed point of view or a mammoth talent, like John Galliano or Karl Lagerfeld, to pull it off successfully.

Of course, she may not have to worry about it. The people running Ungaro seem to have no trouble treating their designers like disposable utensils -- good for one fast food meal and then into the bin they go -- so Ms. Archs may soon be able to concentrate fully again. I hate to say it, but I think it would be the best thing that could happen to her.

Images: Elle.com

Wherein Style Spy's Furry Darling Illustrates Her Excellent Taste

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:46:00 +0000

I came home, I dropped my bag on the floor, I walked into the kitchen to grab something. When I walked back into the living room, I found this.

(I apologize for the poor quality of the video, this is as good as I could make it without spending money on editing software.)

Smart cat. Very smart cat.

Shop the Closet

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:01:00 +0000

There's a whole lot of good stuff available on Style Spy's Closet! Newly posted goodies include these black patent Stuart Weitzman pumps.

Also still available:

red Vittadini boots

Marc Jacobs skirt

ivory Pollini sandals

So go!! Shop!!!!!

Hooray!!!

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:07:00 +0000

All Walks Beyond the Catwalk from ALL WALKS BEYOND THE CATWALK on Vimeo.

Find out more about this project at All Walks Beyond the Catwalk

(Thanks to Polka Dot for her heads-up on this project!)

Hubris

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

There's a line by Jane Austen, from her novel "Emma." It goes something like, "Vanity working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief."

Also, in some cases, really, really bad clothes.

The guy who is the CEO of Emanuel Ungaro is named Mounir Moufarrige, and not long ago he replaced Esteban Cortazer, who's been designing the line since 2007 (Ungaro himself retired in 2002). Actually, he was forced to replace Cortazar, who stepped down in the face of one of the most controversial hirings in the fashion world in the last long little time. Moufarrige & the PTB at the company he works for hired -- of all people -- Lindsay Lohan as "artistic adviser" for Ungaro. Whatever that might be.

Well, let's be honest -- what that might be is an extremely ill-considered bid for publicity. Ill-considered not least because not only is Ms. Lohan no longer the hot celebrette du jour, but she is not and never has been considered a stylistic force or innovator in the way some young actresses have been -- Sienna Miller, for example, or the Olsen twins. Lohan is chiefly a product of the Rachel Zoe School of Non-Style, with a soupçon of faux lesbian tossed on in an attempt to add spice. (Dude -- I've known a lot of lesbians in my life. One ~~publicity stunt~~ "relationship" with another girl doesn't make you a lesbian. Or even bisexual. Puh-leeze. Ask Anne Heche, she'll tell you.)

Long story short, Sr. Cortazar said, "No, gracias," to the idea of an arranged marriage with a muse (If you have a muse forced upon you, does that make you "be-mused"? Because he certainly wasn't "a-mused." Get it?? HAH! I crack me up!) and took it on the ol' heel & toe. So Moufarrige hired a Spanish designer named Estrella Archs to replace Cortazar and, presumably, aid Ms. Lohan in bringing her artistic vision to life. (::ahem:: For those of you who may not know, so far Ms. Lohan's artistic vision has been applied to a brand of self-tanner, and a line of leggings. Yes.)

Now, Ungaro has never been my thing, strictly speaking, but I appreciate Emanuel Ungaro's work and I thought Cortazar was getting his feet under him and heading in the right direction. (I like him even more now that he's displayed some rarely-seen-in-the-fashion-world huevos, and I hope he finds a design home with people who appreciate him soon.) Cortazar was the house's fourth-count-'em-fourth designer since Ungaro himself retired. (Before him came Peter Dundas, now wreaking havoc at Pucci, someone called Vincent Darré, and Giambatista Valli, who is enjoying quite the hot little career on his own.) So. These guys at Ungaro are either insane, idiots, or in desperate need of some Ritalin, because that is NO WAY to carry forward an established house after its namesake retires. Find someone, give him the job, and then let him sit on the egg for a while, for pete's sake. Sure sometimes a miracle occurs and you get Ghesquiere at Balenciaga (POOF! Instant success!), but mostly you gotta give a guy a minute. Especially when the namesake in question has such a strong identity from the past -- for most of us over the age of 30, when you say, "Emanuel Ungaro," what pops into our head is something like this:

Because even though Ungaro started his career at Balenciaga (with the actual Balenciaga), what most of us remember is his exuberant party-girl 80's stuff, full of color and frills and ruching and the borderline abandonment of good taste. And having looked at Archs' website, I can definitely see why she was considered for the job -- there is a lot in there that makes me think she could pick up the Ungaro baton and run with it. Dresses like this:

Which is pretty and has that same come-sit-at-our-table-and-share-our-champagne flirtiness you look for in Ungaro. She does lose the plot occasionally

but I think there's potential there. And since this was the first dress that came down the Ungaro runway the other day

I thought maybe we were on the right track. This dress here isn't going to turn the fashion world upside down, but it's filled with classic Ungaro elements. This next dress was also fun

Although it would have been better had it fit better, and I'm wondering if it isn't just the dress above with the ruffle-that-ate-Pittsburgh removed. (I don't usually go here too much, but dayum, that model is skinny. She's even skinnier than the usual model-skinny. Someone give that girl a taco!)

So, a decent start, but then everything went to hell:

What on earth?

Ungaro was famous for his use of color -- he adored fuchsia -- and I love color, too, but...

No. Lord, no.

This dress is fine

but this is not

If you can't make something as simple as this shrug fit properly, you are in trouble.

And where the hell did this come from? This looks like it dropped in from someone else's colection entirely.

Gimmickry. Gimmickry is a terrible thing in clothes.

And pasties. There were several looks featuring sequined pasties. ::sigh:: I probably don't need to say this, but if at any point in your life you find yourself seriously considering appearing in public in pasties -- sequined or otherwise -- go pour yourself a good stiff drink and go directly to bed until the urge passes.

I guess they had extra pasties and it seemed a shame to waste them. Or it's an homage to Eddie Munster? I dunno. Just terrible

It's a shame, really. The collection has been pretty universally panned and apparently all the editors and buyers (the ones who bothered to show up, that is) left the show holding their noses. Scuttlebutt has it that you will not see these clothes in either fashion magazines or retail outlets next year. The clothes aren't good enough for me to feel outraged by that, but I can't help wondering if the reaction would have been quite so negative without the Lohan element. A lot of folk in the fashion world seemed to take this appointment almost personally and there was quite a lot of huffy umbrage and expectations of failure expressed. The cool kids are definitely not ready to let Lindsay sit at their table, and I fear Ms. Archs' career is going to suffer from the association. Hopefully she'll pass quickly through the revolving door that Ungaro has become and emerge without too much damage, and given their record over the last few years that seems likely.

And Ms. Lohan can return to artistically expressing herself in spray tan.

Images: style.com, decadesinc.com, estrellarchs.com

Live Girls!!

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Alexander McQueen is streaming his Paris fashion show today at 8:15 Paris time (that's 1:15 pm where I am, in Central time). If you're interested (and I don't see how you couldn't be!), you can check it out on his website. This ought to be pretty cool.

When to Say When

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:17:00 +0000

It's one of the eternal questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is the meaning of life?

How many black cardigans is too many black cardigans?

I would like to be able to tell you that I have accumulated this fairly impressive collection of inky knitwear accidentally -- that I keep forgetting I already have black cardigans at home and in episode after episode of early-onset Fashion Alzheimer's I keep buying them, like my dearly departed Grandma Stella did with boxes of band-aids (we discovered dozens of them in her bathroom cabinet after her death); but I have no such excuse. As a matter of fact, with occasional very rare exceptions I have a pretty accurate wardrobe tracker in my head. No, I've done this on purpose.

They're all different, of course. It's like the white blouses: they come in so handy, you really can't have too many of them, they're a go-to item that you have for ages, and each one has some variation in design or fiber that makes it perfect in a different way. A gal needs options, doesn't she? Like the White Blouse Collection, the Black Cardigan Collection is justified. Each of these items is slightly different from the others and each serves a specific purpose. Let's explore, shall we?

From left to right:
The first one is the newest (tag still attached, as you can see). Superfine super-soft merino wool, very long (to my knees) & slouchy. I'm very into slouchy right now. Next, wool/cashmere blend, made like a grandpa cardigan. Heavyweight and very cozy, good for when it's really chilly. Next, two-ply cashmere, crew-neck. Next, two-ply cashmere, v-neck. This one is quite fitted, I often wear it as a top without a shirt underneath it. Next, short-sleeved cashmere with fox collar. Next, cotton knit with white tipped collar and placket. Lastly, cotton baby cable.

Okay, well, not exactly lastly. After I took that photo & was putting them back in their sweater bags and drawers (because I hasten to reassure you that I do NOT hang my sweaters and I beg you will not, either), I remembered these:

The one of the left is a boiled wool sweater coat with embroidery, and the other sweater coat is big and chunky and soooo soft, it's like a bathrobe.

So.

I have a lot of black cardigans.

I feel no regret about any of my black cardis -- like I said before, I get a lot of wear out of them and it's good to always have just the thing. As a matter of fact, I've misplaced one -- the short-sleeved Banana Republic one that I bought a couple of summers ago that I fell very in love with, and I'm pretty pissed about it. I really miss that thing. But I think I may call a black cardi moratorium for the foreseeable future. I think now is when to say when.

How about you guys? What do you have multiples (or even too many) of?

Wonder Boy

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:35:00 +0000

The Italian label Pollini is a little under the radar here in the States. It's one of those brands whose ads you see if you read French or Italian Vogue, but don't run across often in American department stores. The man who's been designing Pollini since 2004 is Rifat Ozbek, a Turkish designer whose name is probably familiar to those of us d'un certain age, but probably unknown by most of the set buying skinnies at Barney's Co-Op. Under Ozbek, Pollini's design has been heavily influenced by what Ozbek has always been known for, which is rich fabrics and heavy tribal/ethnic/exotic influences, tossed with a healthy salting of 70's boho-etry.

The PTB at Aeffe, Pollini's parent company, could not have sent a louder signal that they wanted to redirect their line than when they chose Jonathan Saunders to become its new artistic director. Saunders -- a designer I like very, very much, mind you -- is Hot Young Thing. I think he is a Hot Young Thing with actual design chops, unlike some other Hot Young Things I might mention; but nonetheless his is a name much more likely to be found on the backs of Downtownistas, It Girls, Voguettes, and the like than Ozbek, a designer in his 50's who made his bones and his devotées in the 80's. Not that Ozbek is exactly a fuddy-duddy. Check out this suit from his last collection for Pollini, in Fall 08:

Caramba, that's fantastic. Why am I not wearing that RIGHT NOW???? Seriously, this whole collection was stellar -- I urge you to go and look at it. The coats will destroy you.

Jonathan Saunders is young, talented, and a whole different ball of wax. Saunders' thing is color and construction -- his work is much more pared-down and quote-unquote modern than Ozbek's. It's good, but it's simpler, in a way, and more user-friendly for a generation of young women for whom the display of the body is a major factor in whether or not clothes are attractive. It seems to me that hard-core fashionistas in their 20's and early 30's these days divide into two camps: those for whom fashion is about showing off their sexy bodies as much as possible, and those for whom fashion is about costuming to a degree that they would look right at home in any number of video games or science fiction movies. I'm basing a lot of this judgment on what I see on the Series of Tubes -- if I look at the fashion blogs, especially the personal style blogs, that garner the most attention and devoted followings, this is the conclusion I'm led to. (Not to mention the general and oft-bemoaned tartiness-tipping-into-sluttiness I see parading around on weekend right here in Austin, which, as I have said before, is not exactly a hotbed of cutting-edge mode.)

What a lot of younger people seem to have lost is the idea of the body inhabiting clothes and being ornamented by them, which is not exactly the same as showing it off. I would venture to say that the blue pantsuit above beautifully ornaments the woman wearing it, with that obi belt like a lover's arm around her waist, but very, very little of her is actually revealed.

I will say that I think Saunders has a lot of potential to explore this kind of design. His interest in fabric and color and the shape and flow of clothing lead me to beleive that there is much more to his aesthetic than showing off the shapely legs of the models & trustafarians wearing his dresses. And maybe Massimo Ferretti (yes, married to Alberta -- the woman is a major mogul besides being a designer: Aeffe = AF) & Co. saw this in Saunders before they offered him the job at Pollini, but that's honestly more credit than I'm willing to give them, given the way big-money fashion works these days. My guess is, they see that Saunders is young and hot (and talented, which is a bonus though not a requirement) and they want to re-align their company's base with the young and hot things that are buying his clothes. Everyone wants the Balmain lightning in a bottle these days. We'll see how it turns out.

That being said (and said, and said, and said... jeebus, I'm a windbag!), I loved this collection. It almost always comes down to color and shape and line for me and Saunders has a gut-level grasp of those things that speak to me time after time.

Obviously, Saunders' demo is younger than the one Pollini has been courting up until recently, and possibly some of it is too young for me, but I really love the off-hand ease of these clothes.

I would happily wear this dress. It's hard, sometimes, to parse out the clothing from the overall look the designers and stylists have tried to create in a photo. When you stick clothing on a girl this young and skinny and arrange her in coy, cutesy, pigeon-toed poses, the effect is that of extreme youthfulness. But I think that dress is simply lovely, fresh and young but not childish, and I could wear that without feeling mutton-y at all.

Checks & plaids are evidently going to be with us in a big way once Spring rolls around next year.

I'm okay with that -- I like graphic prints.

I'm still -- STILL -- on a mission to find printed tops. I completely love this one. Boy, could I have gotten some wear out of this this summer.

And this is also dead useful and lots of fun.

And let's talk for a moment about those adorable shoes. When Aeffe brought Saunders on to be the creative director of Pollini, they also hired white-hot extreme shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood. This is a typical Kirkwood shoe:

This is not, as they say, your father's Oldsmobile. But these shoes

are adorable.

This caught me off-guard a little. Did Jonathan Saunders watch The Fashion Show?

Whatever his inspiration, I love this. I'll bet that's a perfect little flurry of motion when you walk in it, which I always love.

Speaking of perfect...

I could do so much with that little shift -- wear it by itself or as a layer over a top & slacks or another skirt, even open as a vest. What a great piece. I think it's leather, but given that I can't find any detail shots of this collection I can't be sure.

Good, streamlined, great lines on those slacks but what I'm really looking at, again, is THOSE SHOES!!! The all-black version are certainly a little more practical than the plaid ones.

I think this is my favorite look from the show.

I don't know what it is, but I've really been big into the slouchy the last six months or so, and I really love the way this hangs. Not to mention, of course, the play of the colors and fabrics. I'm not big into patchwork, I never have been, but this is a version of it I like. (Even with the asymmetric hem, something I usually disdain.)

Saunders hasn't given up designing his own label now that he's with Pollini, and I'll try to get a review of that up in the next couple of days. I'm quite behind the times, I know, but life goes on beyond my laptop screen and lately I just seem to be constantly in headless chicken mode. Plus, frankly, I can only dredge up so many Deep Thoughts About Fashion per week before I start to smell something burning -- the ol' cogitator just overheats.

Images: Style.com, bravotv.com

Wherein Style Spy Gets All Kinds of Excited

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:42:00 +0000

In case you can't read that, it says, "Opening October 22."

I believe the phrase I am searching for is, "WOO-FREAKING-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Surprisingly Good

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:11:00 +0000

I'm usually pretty skeptical about celebrity-turned-designer efforts. And that's because they're usually not very good. There have been occasional exceptions, and I'm really liking the Maria Sharapova Collection recently rolled out by Cole Haan. Now, I'm generally a great big fan of Cole Haan -- I think they do exceptional quality and design at what is a very reasonable price point; and their acquisition by Nike has been one of the best things to happen to feet in quite a while.

I don't know how much Maria Sharapova truly has to do with these shoes besides posing in lots of pretty advertisements, but whoever is designing them is cranking out some good work. I've already shown you these:

(click photos for links on all shoes)

A pair or possibly two of which I do plan on acquiring later in the fall. But I got an e-mail from Endless telling me that if you order a pair right now you get this free tote bag

which is danged cute. So I went looking around and I have to tell ya, I like all of the shoes in this collection. These booties, or example

are terrific. They're very much what is happening in fashion right now without being so extreme that you'll only get one season of wear out of them. That's going to be a great boot under a pair of jeans, but it's also going to be really, really good-looking with a pair of tights and a skirt. Loving it.

If you're more of a flat boot kinda gal, these are gorgeous. Click on the link to check out the detailing on this -- the back side of these boots are suede and the strap detailing is just edgy enough -- they're not boring old black boots. If you were planning on doing any traveling this fall and were going to do a lot of walking, these are your ticket right here -- they'll go with anything and still look chic.

We all need a good sexy sandal...

These come in black as well, but I maintain (and I'm in good company) that gold is a neutral, and every woman should have a pair of gold sandals in her wardrobe. I love the platforms on these, they're reminiscent of the YSL Tribute sandal without being a carbon copy, and this is another one you should click on to look at the close-up: the buckles on all those straps are the little toothed slider kind, so you can make them exactly as tight or loose as you want them. Great shoe.

There's also a great flat suede over-the-knee boot and a beautiful almond-toed tie-front pump that's extremely elegant. Collect all six!

I hope someone will give some of these shoes a try and let me know how they work out. (Style Spy is on a bit of a shoe diet these days, or I'd give you first-hand testimony.)

Pretty For Friday -- September 25

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Good googly-moogly...

Stuart Weitzman - Scrinchable (Taupe Pizzo Suede) - Footwear

I am a little faint, and my clicking finger is twitching. Stepping away from the computer now...

I Read Magazines

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:00:00 +0000

A lot. Mostly, I read fashion magazines. I love 'em. I have entirely too many subscriptions and the reason I don't have more is that those dingdong furrin ones like British Bazaar and French Vogue cost a fortune to be delivered.

I adore magazines. I know there are a lot of great online ones out there now, but I still prefer good old honest-to-goodness glossy paper. This probably has a lot to do with my age and my teensy laptop screen, but there's nothing I love more than climbing into a nice fluffy bed with a brand-new copy of "W." Bliss.

Sometimes I read great stuff in the magazines. Some of them get surprisingly talented & reputable writers to throw down for them and in between the hypersaturated shots of prettypretty clothes & shoes you can find some really good journalism.

But sometimes I read things that cause me to lift an eyebrow. Like this from the September issue of Allure, from a cover story on young actress Amanda Seyfried (don't ask me who she is, I've already forgotten):

"Her elfin looks, which (despite her long blonde hair and tiny waist) are, she believes, inferior to those of, say, Natalie Portman. "I am surrounded by an industry full of beautiful actresses!" Seyfriend says despairingly. "They're everywhere!"

Hideous troll Amanda Seyfried

Yes, poor girl. Her movie star status is such a testament to Hollywood's tolerance for the ugly and imperfect. (Also, I've read more elegant sentence structure scrawled on the walls of public restrooms.)

Sometimes both eyebrows raise. I snorted out loud when I read this tidbit from an interview with model Erin Wasson in the September issue of UK Bazaar:

"Katie Grand rang me, and asked if I'd model in Giles' A/W 09 London show. I hadn't walked a runway in years. It was awesome -- and a bit surreal, being 27 and surrounded by 16-year-olds."

Ancient crone Erin Wasson in the Giles Fall 09 runway show

Poor old dear. I do hope they let her use her cane to hobble up onto the runway. (Not to mention that Erin Wasson was born & raised in Texas -- nobody rang her for anything. They might have called her up, but it's doubtful they rang her.)

But occasionally I read something that makes me smile. A lot. This next was also in UK Bazaar. There was an article featuring interviews with the men who are the partners of successful women -- people like Taylor Hackford talking about Helen Mirren, and David Hare talking about Nicole Fahri. But far & away my favorite was from Andreas Kronthaler, who is married to the legendary Vivienne Westwood. Kronthaler was 25 when he met Westwood. She was 50. that was almost 20 years ago, and they are still, by all accounts, very happily together.

Kronthaler says, "Wherever I go with Vivienne, whoever we're with, I always fancy her the most out of everyone. Always. We were recently at a party in New York -- all these New York women were there -- and Vivienne just smiled and I thought, "Nobody is like her. No one is anywhere near...' I'd rather be with her than with all of them."

Original cougar Vivienne Westwood and husband Andreas Kronthaler

He's certainly got that right. There is no one like her. I want to be Vivienne Westwood when I grow up.

Images: allure.com, style.com,

Tasty Delight

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:00:00 +0000

"Commercial."

It's a tricky word. Depending on tone & expression, it can be the highest of compliments or the meanest of sneers.

In 2007, Phillip Lim won the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent from the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America). Also nominated that year were Thakoon Panichgul and Kate & Laura Mulleavy, the designers of Rodarte. All of them are still in business; all of them, as a matter of fact, are thriving. Not all of them are "commercial."

The Sisters Mulleavy seem to have no interest whatsoever in being commercial. Their clothing has developed a nearly-cult following among the cutting-edgiest of fashionistas on our two coasts and abroad. My guess is that there are huge swaths of middle America who've never heard of Rodarte, and my other guess is that the Mulleavys don't care. Rodarte has gotten increasingly "design-y" over time. Their work is what we in the biz call "editorial," which means it looks fantastic in photos in W, but is not likely to be something an actual human would wear. (This does not mean it's bad by a long shot -- I think Laura & Kate Mulleavy are hugely talented, I love looking at their stuff.) Their prices, also, are not commercial. Astronomical, more like. Four-figure skirts are not uncommon. And good luck even finding any of it -- quite a lot of googling reveals only a few online portals that carry it, and the "stockists" section on their website is pretty meager.

Thakoon is perhaps a little better-known, although still not exactly a household name. His designs are a lot more accessible, and his prices are slightly lower, but his dresses will still often set you back close to two grand.

Phillip Lim, on the other hand? Well, by the time he won the above-mentioned award, he was in 300 stores, and I'm guessing it's more now. And his most expensive dresses price out at about where Thakoon's start. Phillip Lim? Is commercial. He and his business partner Wen Zhou are determined to keep their production costs down and by doing so keep their clothing more affordable. You will usually find Phillip Lim's clothes in the "Contemporary" or bridge section of a high-end department store. His price tags would look very out of whack hanging with the Lanvins and the Posens and the Proenza Schoulers.

His clothes would not.

You do not have to reinvent the wheel every four months to be a good designer. You just have to make attractive, flattering clothes that have a point of view.

Phillip Lim knows how to do this. He does it really, really well. I'm crazy for the shape of these pants. They're trouser-y and slouchy without being ridiculous. I have one pair of 3.1 slacks of my own and I absolutely adore them. Kate Hepburn would have loved Phillip Lim's pants.

Red patent trench coat? Sign me up. If you don't love that, your heart is made of stone. (Or PVC.)

Season after season, Phillip Lim comes up with a collection of clothes that are somewhere in between basics and thrillers and even in this economy, he is King of the Sell-Through. ("Selling through" means that all the stuff you send to a store gets bought. By actual customers. With real money. Which is a phenomenon that a lot of designers haven't experienced in quite a while.) As much 3.1 as you see on the floor in a Neiman Marcus or Barney's store, there's surprisingly little of it at those outlets. (Random thought: You know what there's always a lot of at the Austin Last Call? Escada. Really blah, dowdy Escada.)

I'm really feeling like I need to pick up a few leather pieces for this fall/winter. Leather is really big this year. This skirt would be a great start.

As would this very, very perfect tuxedo. Think how much even sexier that would be on a woman who looked older than 12!

There were bags in this collection, I think for the first time. It will be interesting to see what their price points are -- whether Lim will succumb to the allure of the easy money to be found in the It Bag, or whether he stays true to his ethos of making affordable clothes.

If he does keep the prices reasonable, that bag is going to be really hard for me to resist. That's fantastic.

If he's good enough for Christian Louboutin, who's evidently doing his shoes, he's good enough for me.

This is the second show I've reviewed with a big emphasis on the two-tone, spectator-flavored shoe. I love it. And oh, these are so good.

Helloooooo, nurse!! Good googly-moogly, those are FANTASTIC.

There were a couple of missteps, of course. Remember what I said about women not liking their pants to be too funny-shaped?

I guess technically they're leggings? Maybe? Leggings are HUGE right now in the fashion-y world. Every possible permutation you can imagine are showing up -- sequined, zippered, shredded, leather, lycra, lace... you name it, someone's finding a way to incorporate it into a legging. Whatever these are, I'm not thinking I love them.

And this, while plenty interesting, is a little too familiar.

It's way too much like this and other dresses from Rodarte Fall 08:

Although I do really like it from the back. Lim is a big fan of the exposed zipper.

This next is great from the front and back. Easy, fun, slouchy sequined t-shirt dress from the front:

Sexy double-take maker from the back. This one will sell through, and do it fast. Great dress.

I love the combination of the sequined fabric and the easy-to-wear shape.

More good sequins.

Another shape I love:

This boxy jacket is a bit reminiscent of the 80's, but it's not so extreme it's costume-y. (If you're in your mid-40's like me, the 80's are a time in fashion viewed with cautious fondness.) And again, I really love the shape of those trousers.

There was a whole section of dresses that managed to be really cool and yet really pretty.

I like the combination of fabrics and I just love those crystal pleats -- that's one of my favorite textures.

This one was my favorite:

See what I mean about the leather? Tellin' ya -- it's everywhere.

Lim's clothes do skew a little young, as befits his place in the Contemporary section, but there are always plenty of pieces in every collection that a grow-up can easily work into her wardrobe. Like I said, I have a few bits of 3.1 in my closet and I plan on acquiring some more. I predict a long and successful career for Phillip Lim. I think he will continue to be rewarded for trying to keep real women and their budgets in mind when he makes clothes. His stuff is wearable but hip, well-constructed, and his sizing is reasonable and consistent (it shouldn't matter, but we know that it does, don't we?). He's one of my current favorites, and I live in fear of the day I see a headline telling me that he's being bought by LVMH or the Gucci group.

I continue to plow dutifully through all the runway coverage. It's slow going, but keep checking back here for more!

Images: style.com

Fashion Hubbub!

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Oh, my goodness! Controversy on the runway!

Canadian designer Mark Fast has only been showing at London Fashion week for a couple of seasons now, but he's already cemented a reputation. The Central Saint Martins graduate focuses on knitwear -- but we're not talking about twin sets here. Fast makes knitted dresses for the nightclub set -- dresses so tight and so slashed and so revealing that the corollary to Fast's reputation is that when it comes to his clothes, regular-sized gals need not apply. (His first collection was made in only one size.)

This apparently did not make Mr. Fast happy, and for his runway show last week the decision was made to include a few women who were larger than the typical runway models. Specifically, the models, who are represented by "Plus-Size" agencies, were British sizes 12 - 14 (which is translates roughly to an American 8 - 12). According to Mr. Fast's creative director, Amanda May, "We wanted women to know they don't have to be a size zero to wear a Mark Fast dress - curvier women can look even better in one."

Okay, great! So far, so good. Except that what resulted from this decision was that Fast's lead stylist and casting director quit in a big, skinny huff backstage when he refused to back down from his decision to use these ENORMOUS women in his fashion show.

Oh, for pete's...

Now. The question isn't whether Fast should have used models in larger sizes. That's a yes. It's a great idea and I think all of us who love fashion can applaud it, regardless of our own personal sizes. Inclusiveness = good! The question is also not whether, if the stylist they were using couldn't come up with better undergarment alternatives than the ones that came down the runway, perhaps Fast should continue his search for a show stylist, because obviously this person is not at the top of her game. Disgraceful.

Neither is the question whether or not it's ridiculous to paint the woman above as "plus-sized." Yes, she is obviously a bit larger than most of the women stalking down the runway in these holey knee socks posing as dresses, but she looks perfectly normal to me. This is not someone who screams "special sizes" to me. As a matter of fact, while the two models above were easy for me to pick out

in comparison to most of the typically-bone-thin girls in the rest of the show, the third "plus-size" model eluded me. I seriously wasn't sure which other of the models was supposed to be so gigantic that she caused a career-ending hissy fit on the part of this stylist. Which tells you a little something about the degree of change we're talking about here -- that degree being not too damn much.

So, bully for Mark Fast for taking a stand for all the real-life women in the world and speaking up for body diversity and all that jazz. He deserves our sincere appreciation. But the real question?

Why would anyone of any size want to wear any of these clothes?

Because my friends, I don't care how heavy or skinny or curvy or bony or whatever you might be -- that is one ugly dress.

Images: Style.com

Red Carpet Extravaganza -- 2009 Emmy Awards

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Here is my review of the fashion at the 2009 Emmy Awards, which happened last night.

They all looked like this.

Jenna Fischer in Reem Acra

Ummmmmmm...

Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got on that. I'm going to go make lunch now.

Image: Style.com

Seven Minutes of Joy

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I am delighted by Isaac Mizrahi.

Not just for this collection, but ongoingly. Overjoyed and delighted. I really do feel like Isaac is a guy after my own heart and that if we ever met we'd be "crazy besties" (which is gawdawful fashion mag-speak for best friends) and not for nothin' but redhead here would be more than happy to function as muse and walking billboard for a guy I think is one of the most consistently fabulous designers working.

I love Isaac Mizrahi because he loves a lot of the things I love. He likes day wear that is easily turned into evening, or at least cocktail, wear. He loves color -- uses tons of it. He has a sense of humor and it shows in his clothes. He is ironic about himself, but not about his customers, which means that season after season he creates clothing because he wants to please people. Not to astound or puzzle or challenge them -- he wants women to put on his clothes and feel beautiful & happy. "I still believe," Mizrahi said, "that fashion has to be gorgeous and colorful and fun." Good googly-moogly, we could use a few more like him.

This collection was inspired by Fred Astaire, an icon long worshiped for his effortless male chic (would that be chic-ismo?). Astaire famously used ascots and neckties as belts, and this ribbon on the waist of these fantastic loose trousers pays homage to that. The women-are-sexy-in-menswear thing is a bit of an overused trope in fashion, but clichés are clichés because they are true, and the power and confidence a woman gets from a perfectly fitted pair of trousers can't help but translate into sex appeal.

Such a great jacket, with that big flounce detail. I wish I could find some detail shots from this show, but no one seems to have any. (This really grates my cheese. Style.com will show me 9000 obsessive photos of Alexander Wang's dumb tightey-whitey-inspired whatever-they-ares, but they can't be bothered to show me the seaming on this jacket? Ppppflflflflflflffltttttt to them, is what I say.)

(Also, while I'm on the subject of Style.com, a website, mind you, on which I rely very heavily, can I just whinge for a moment about the unrequested video ads that keep popping up? It is the MOST annoying thing to be trying to look at photos and have your screen be unceremoniously hijacked by a video Ralph Lauren ad. If I want to look at the ad, I'll click on it, thankyouverymuch.)

No detail shots means I can't quite make out what kind of fabric this adorable, perfect sheath dress is made from. It has texture, which I love and which keeps it from being too basic to be interesting.

That's a Twenty Year Dress, that is. You could wear that forever.

Just the other day I was saying how difficult it is to do underwear as outerwear and do it well, but here's a great example of it.

What a great bustier. Sexy without being tarty. And I don't have to tell you how much I love that skirt, do I?

Jumpsuits are tricky. This one is wonderful.

This collection seemed very much about paying tribute to different golden eras of Hollywood. Usually when some mind-numbing cable television personality stands in front of a camera on the red carpet and drones on about "old Hollywood glamor," you can expect to see a starlet in a bias-cut charmeuse gown. But there were other moments of great Hollywood fashion besides Jean Harlow, and I adore this 20's-inflected dress. It plays with the "flapper" idea without being too literal. And oh, my goodness, I would rock that dress, ifIdosaysomyself.

This is too desperately short for real life, but I forgive it because of the movement and shimmer and sparkle that is somehow more bouncy and fun than the usual heavy-duty glitz of a sequined dress. Compare this to one of the crystallized suits of armor that have been coming out of Balmain lately:

How could anything so sparkly be so glum? That dress doesn't look fun, that dress looks like a chore.

This, however?

Not a chore. And yet another dress I would rock. Poor Isaac, designing all these clothes for a muse he's never met...

Here's that flapper silhouette again. Note the pink tulle peeking out at the hem. Does that not make you squee a little bit? It does, admit it.

This dress? Floats. It floats, like a flower on the breeze. Stunning. One of my favorite things about Mizrahi is how much he can do with a very simple shape. So flattering -- and would that not be a spectacular wedding dress?

This is less simple, but still a long way from being overdone. The starkness of that chalk-white, perfectly plain bustier against that shreddy tulle skirt is enough to give yours truly the vapors. What a beautiful, beautiful gown.

I've saved my favorite for last.

This was a jaw-dropper for me. I gasped so loud I startled the cat. I haven't seen very many things that I think are more perfectly me than this outfit. As I just said, I am a sucker for the strict tailoring paired with the over-the-top flou, and we all know how much I love tulle. I took one look at that and decided I had to have it. Unortunately, my checkbook does not agree with my racing fashionista heart, so I'm going to DIY it. I've already gotten started -- I bought a knit tube skirt from American Apparel (longer than this one, FYI) to use as a base, and I've found the perfect ballet pink fine-gauge tulle. There will be much draping and pinning (and consternation, probably) before it's all done, but I think I can pull it off. I have a couple of good alternative for the jacket, and I just get all kiiiiinds of happy imagining the various shoe alternatives I could work with this outfit. (Complete Fashionista Accessories Geek-Out, coming up!) I'll keep you posted & let you see it when it's done, don't worry. If I pull it off, you must all promise to invite me to every party and/or formal function you attend for the next six months, so I have somewhere to wear it. Deal?

Cathy Horyn, on her blog, mentions "that sublime quality of feeling that Mr. Mizrahi manages to inject in his fashion shows" and (as usual) I wholeheartedly agree with her. Besides the exuberance and wit in his clothes, there is also a quality of generosity and almost a tenderness about them, as if they were all made as a gift for someone he loved very much.

I'm going to do something unusual and post a video of the whole show here. Watch it. It's about seven minutes long, and it's seven minutes of joy. Not a bad way to start your Monday.

Images: Style.com

Designer Spaghetti

shine@austin.rr.com (StyleSpy) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:49:00 +0000

I have been having a heck of a hard time trying to get a review written of the Marc Jacobs show. I don't quite know what to say about it, because I don't quite know what he's trying to say. Reviewers are reporting that Jacobs says he was inspired by the ballet and by musical theater, and also that he's tired of the downtown Goth look of black leather and studs that's been ubiquitous for a couple of seasons now. He wanted to give women more opportunities to express their individuality, he said. He just had fun, he said.

Is all of this designer-code for, "I dunno. I just threw a bunch of stuff out there"?

No, I don't really believe that. Jacobs is too thoughtful a designer for that. I think he's capable of truly great, truly groundbreaking design. I don't think this collection is it.

I couldn't even get a really good handle on how to present it to you. There were some great tailored coats

there were some ruffles,

(LOTS of ruffles)

and there were coats combined with ruffles.

Yeah, the pants... We need to talk about those pants. Because while I've heard my friend Plumcake advocate for the return of the bloomer/pantaloon, I think she's a lone voice in the wilderness here. I just don't see women going for these pants. I can imagine a few second-tier starlets being talked into them by their stylists while their common sense is otherwise engaged by amphetamines of various flavors, but I don't see these flying out of the stores.

These are a slightly less "WTF??" version, but still... I don't see it happening. If there's one thing we've learned in the last few seasons, it's that real-life women (the ones NOT in the fashion industry and over the age of 24) are extremely resistant to funny-shaped pants. You can narrow or widen the leg a certain amount, raise or lower the rise, crop or lengthen a bit, but basically? We want pants that look like pants. Not nappies or bike shorts.

There were several exits that featured the under-as-outerwear thing. Jacobs has played with this before, notably the Spring 08 "Deconstructed" collection, and I thought it was more successful there. Does it need to be explored further? Personally, I don't think so. It's SO hard to do this well. Occasionally someone hits it bang-on and it's marvelous, but most of the time it's just teetering on the edge of tacky and tipping over all too often.

I wanted to like the ruffles, but these

are just not the kind of ruffles I like. This kind of ruffled/pleated trim reminds me too much of tacky polyester little girls' First Communion dresses, or tacky polyester quinceañera dresses. And this dress in particular looks like a fallen tree that's been overgrown with some sort of lichen or moss or something. (Betcha that's the first and last time I ever use the word "lichen" in a fashion review.)

And don't even get me started on the shoes from this show

Yech. Those look absolutely impossible -- proof that just because a shoe is a flat doesn't make it wearable. They do point toward a Japanese influence, however. Often in a runway show you can get a better clue about what the designer is shooting for from the accessories and hair and makeup than from the actual clothes. Jacobs often mentions how influenced he is by Rei Kawakubo and other Japanese modernists.

You can really feel that in the proportion of these jackets, and the piece-y-ness of all the looks.

There were certainly some things I liked. There was a short sequence of looks where I felt like I was beginning to get my bearings a bit.

I liked the long, narrow shape here, the detail without clutter, the really, really gorgeous insets on that skirt. but then he tossed out this thing

and it all went to hell. Oh, lordy, I hate that.

This jacket, however

I do not hate. This jacket I loooooove.

If I were going to pull one thing out of this collection to put into my own closet, it would be that jacket.

I also really liked a section of long, handkerchief-y dresses

Love the suspension neckline on this, and the fabric, and the droplets of pearls around the edge. I think that's lovely. I like them in spite of their asymmetrical hems because the dresses aren't about the hemlines, the hemlines are just part of the dresses, and I like the movement and lightness it gives them. He played even more with the embellishment

I really like this dress, although I think I may like it in theory more than I like the idea of actually wearing it. I can't help but admire the work that's gone into it. Jacobs really went to town with the sequins -- we may be reaching the sequin apotheosis soon, friends, good heavens it must have been good to be a sequin manufacturer the last few seasons.

Again, I think I'm responding more to the cleverness of the way the sequins were used than the actual garment. And even more so here

Wow. That's just... wow. I love open-work, and sequins, and sheerness...

I hate the shape of those pants, and the gimmicky use of underwear. You are going to see a LOT of this in fashion magazines this winter, the editors are going to lose their stiletto-clad shit for this. I do not think you will see it anywhere else.

The editors are right, really, whether or not you want to wear the actual clothes. When the history of fashion for this era is written, Marc Jacobs is going to be an important name, but his influence can take a long time to trickle down into the mainstream. Is he ahead of the curve? Is he just lucky? Or does his influence have more to do with his endless capacity for self-promotion than his design talent? I don't know the answer to that. I do know that I often really love Marc Jacobs' designs. I also often don't like them much at all, and don't understand what he's trying to say with them. You can say, Oh, it's just fashion, why does it have to "say" anything? But if you view fashion design as an art form (and I do), you can't help but look for some sort of cohesion in the artist's vision. The great thing about fashion as an art form is that its artists have a chance to either scrap what they were doing and start off completely fresh every season (Miuccia Prada), spend a lifetime ongoingly refining and elaborating a defining vision (Ralph Rucci) or something in-between. Looked at with a long, looooong lens, Marc Jacobs' trajectory makes sense to me, with a few loops backward and forward as he goes. I think he does have a vision, but I don't think he's necessarily working toward something; I think there's a good deal of spaghetti-against-the-wall stuff going on. That indecisiveness gives me a little aesthetic indigestion sometimes, but that's probably more my issue than his.

This was the last exit in the show. It's a dress I'm not really crazy about as a dress, but I do adore the effect of it.

Like scribbles on tissue paper. Beautiful. As with so many things Jacobs has made, I don't want to wear it, but I do like looking at it.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this review up, and that I haven't gotten more out there about the runway shows happening. It takes me a while to write these silly posts -- longer, I'm sure, than their merit justifies, and I'm having a busy week or two right now. Please bear with me, I'm hoping to get some serious work done over the weekend.

Images: Style.com